Judge rules probable cause to try Heath

John Pirro

Updated 10:54 pm, Thursday, July 12, 2012

Photo: Lisa Weir

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In this file photo, John Heath listens to the Public Defender during his arraignment in the Danbury Superior Court on Tuesday May 1, 2012. The cold case murder trial is expected to start Thursday, Sept. 26, 2013.

In this file photo, John Heath listens to the Public Defender during his arraignment in the Danbury Superior Court on Tuesday May 1, 2012. The cold case murder trial is expected to start Thursday, Sept.

DANBURY -- A state Superior Court judge ruled Thursday enough evidence exists to try John Heath for the 1984 murder of his wife, Elizabeth, whose body was found two years ago under a barn at their former home in Newtown.

Even though the case against the 68-year-old, retired house painter is entirely circumstantial, Heath's own words, combined with items investigators recovered from the dry well where the body lay hidden for 26 years, provided probable cause to charge him with the crime and allow the case to go forward, Judge John Blawie said.

The judge's ruling, which came after a nearly two-day hearing that began June 19 and concluded Thursday afternoon, was no surprise to defense attorney Frank O'Reilly.

"It was not unexpected," O'Reilly said. "What is revealing about the entire process is how difficult it's going to be to prove these allegations beyond a reasonable doubt. My client steadfastly maintains his innocence and looks forward to proving it at trial."

O'Reilly called no witnesses on Heath's behalf and labeled the prosecution's case "speculation and conjecture."

"There is no evidence that ties my client to the death of Elizabeth Heath," O'Reilly said in court.

For years, Heath said his 32-year-old wife of nearly six years ran off in the middle of the night, leaving behind their young daughter, her dog, car and nearly all of her belongings.

The couple were in the early stages of divorce.

On Thursday, Heath, hooked up to an oxygen tank, seated in a wheelchair and wearing a T-shirt and prison khakis, flashed a big smile and waved to his current wife, Raquel, and four female friends, as judicial marshals wheeled him into the courtroom.

The five women declined to speak to reporters after the hearing.

None of the dozen police officers, friends and neighbors of the victim called as witnesses by State's Attorney Stephen Sedensky were able to provide direct testimony or evidence that Heath killed his wife.

But Blawie said enough circumstantial evidence existed for a finding of probable cause, a far lesser standard than the proof beyond a reasonable doubt necessary to convict him at trial.

"The defendant's own statements to police were that he last saw (her) before they went to bed. There was bedding from the bedroom when her body was found so many years later," Blawie said.

"The court finds probable cause that the defendant did commit the crime of murder and the case can proceed."

Under state law, probable cause hearings are necessary when a defendant is charged with a crime carrying a potential life sentence.

Testimony of the prosecution witnesses virtually mirrored information already included in the 27-page arrest warrant affidavit that investigators used to charge Heath with the crime in April.

That was little more than two years after Elizabeth's Heath's skeletal remains were discovered when the new owner and his son were renovating the 3.5-acre Poverty Hollow Road property the defendant lost to foreclosure in 2007.

An autopsy revealed Elizabeth Heath had been killed by four blows to the head, forceful enough to cave in her skull. She also sustained a broken left arm, the result of an attempt to ward off her attacker's blows, Sedensky said.

Prosecution witnesses also testified that Elizabeth Heath would never have abandoned her 4-year-old daughter and that she was looking forward to making an important presentation at the Westport school where she was studying to become a psychotherapist on the day her husband said she had run off.

Following the judge's ruling, Heath again pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. He remains in custody on $1 million bond and is due back in court Sept. 7.